Wall on the pavement at front of my property crumbling - liabilities?

[PanicAttax]

Not yet a legal case but the wall at the front of my garden is a low one and has a lot of higher soil and trees behind it and is directly on the pavement. It is Victorian and over time the mortar is coming out and it is feeling the weight of the earth behind it. Added to this drunk people sit on it and leave cans etc on it over night. I am starting to worry it is going to come apart under them one day and I'll be held liable for any damages. Is this possible? I think it will be very costly to replace as the backed up land behind it would cover the pavement if the wall went. Added to this we are in a conservation zone and the locals are very strict about everything looking the same so I couldn't just sweep it up and leave it or not replace it : it would have to be like for like.

Am I worrying about nothing? Could I claim in advance on house insurance for this kind of thing? Should I be raising my concerns with the council?

Many thanks for any help.

I am by no means an expert but I would say you could be liable if it fell down and hurt someone, yes.

I don't think you can claim on the house insurance to repair it.

Raising concerns with the council would be pointless if it's your wall.

ETA have you had a bricklayer round to look at it and advise?

I want to put a sign on it or something to stop people sitting on it. I am worried that would attract attention to it and people wanting a claim might get ideas. Even typing that feels paranoid though!

Yes I had someone over a year ago and asked and he said it would be tricky because of the earth. Even disrupting that I don't think I can do as it is a conservation area, so has to stay as it is. Any diggers would literally cause neighbours to come out and ask to see paperwork (happened when I put a sky dish up years ago)

You absolutely would be liable if it fell on someone. Signs are not the solution. You need to get on and rebuild it (and yes, it probably will be expensive).

If you have family legal protection as part of your home insurance, that should protect you if anyone is injured by the wall collapsing, even if it doesn't pay for the repair of the wall.

Sounds like it’s what is described as a retaining wall (because it’s holding up the earth behind it), so may require a specialist rather than an ordinary bricklayer. If you’re in a conservation area you might require planning permission to replace it - is your house a listed building as well as being in a conservation area?

Speak to your conservation officer.

You can't ignore it and wait for it to collapse, potentially causing harm and damage.

Yes it is a retaining wall, thank you I couldn't remember the name for it. It is a dwarf wall that is apparently protected. The house is not protected, just the windows can't be updated with UPVC etc. I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to begin the process if I'm honest as if I start without alerting someone I think neighbours might blow a fuse!

The thing with this is, do the insurers not expect you to keep the insured item (the wall) in a good state of repair?

I'm not convinced they'd cover you for damages if the wall was obviously falling down for a while and you'd not tried to rectify i, but again, I'm not in insurance so don't know this for definite.

If you live in a conservation area, speak to the local conservation officer. They'll be able to tell you the right paperwork to file, and the correct order to go about it. They might even have a list of recommended contractors.

Fair point @Dacadactyl . Insurance companies tend to do whatever they can to avoid paying out, and failure to repair the wall might well be a factor.

OP, I think you need to speak to the council conservation officer as @DrSpartacular advises. Don't worry about what the neighbours say. It's your wall and your responsibility, which (while a worry) means you don't have to get their permission to take steps to resolve the issue.

If somebody sits on a wall that isn’t theirs, and gets injured from the wall falling down, shouldn’t that be their own fault for sitting on it?

@PanicAttax , just to add that you might want to post this on the Property feed as well, as you may get suggestions as to what the solution might be and how much it will cost.

What you say makes sense in moral terms IMO, but legally the homeowner is responsible as I understand it.

Definitely better to do something sooner rather than later. If someone else reports it as a safety issue, it will be reported to the Council's building control team and they will consider installing safety measures (barriers etc) and serving a notice on you to repair. Any costs they incur would be payable by you.

Hopefully it won't be too costly to get it strengthened/rebuilt.

If the wall needs repointing it will be weaker, the stones will be able to move and it will feel the effect of strain of weight behind it. As it moves the forces will slowly increase as it's centre of balance shifts.
Like any other property maintenance issue you need to keep things in a good state of repair so they don't deteriorate and collapse.
If you don't do that it's on you I would have thought (I'm assuming you own the wall as it is retaining your garden and it's your boundary).

Thank you all - off to look up the council's conservation officer now. It's not too bad at the moment but has got markedly worse over the last year.

Speak to the conservation officer first.

Conservation wise they probably want you to use the same style brick if replacing, I am not sure if you know what your bricks are. My property is nowhere near as old as yours and I have information from when it was built and what bricks were used. Although my builder took a photo and the builder's merchant could match it by sight.

Reusing the bricks you have is possible but time consuming with chipping off the mortar. The garden/earth can be cut back, a new foundation may need to be dug out depending on what is there already. It is relatively straightforward, the foundation bit is the unknown and the builder may just not want an unknown job and said it wouldn't be easy.

I have a 3ft retaining wall in my back garden next to the patio and we had a French drain put it to drain the water instead of it sitting in the soil. This would cost more but is probably unnecessary. Mine is where the lawn ends so no trees/shrubs at this part of the garden to soak up the rain.